Martin Kaymer produced a sensational back nine 29 to cut through the field and win the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions in Shanghai. The former US PGA Championship winner from Germany was in tremendous form as he carded a faultless closing round of 63 to win by three shots from Fredrik Jacobson. The German, who seemed out of contention early in round three, birdied nine of his final 12 holes to finish three in front of long-time leader Fredrik Jacobson. Jacobson tried bravely to stay with him but his fate was sealed with a bogey at the 17th. The win takes Kaymer up 2 places to Number 4 in the Official World Golf Ranking.

With the 2011 season now over in some parts, and coming to a close in others, it was the turn of the Challenge Tour to climax this weekend as home favourite Andrea Pavan claimed the second title of his rookie season at the Apulia San Domenico Grand Final. The win saw the Italian finish second on the season’s rankings, and as a result guaranteed his place on the European Tour in 2012. His closest competitor on Sunday was England’s Tommy Fleetwood who looked like challenging down the stretch, and while a bogey at 18 would cost him the title, his second place would ensure rankings glory. Pavan now finds himself inside the World’s top 200 at 183, having started the year ranked 1142, while Fleetwood finds himself a little higher at 127.

Lu Wei-Chih delighted the home galleries at the Mercuries Taiwan Masters en route to his third Asian Tour win, and his second on home soil having won the same event in 2005. After a low scoring opening couple of rounds things got decidedly tougher over the weekend, and rounds of 72-74 from the eventual champion were enough to take the title by three from Thailand’s Thaworn Wiratchant. Lu could even afford to bogey the last two holes on Sunday en route to the title, and now jumps some 108 places up the ranking and just into the outskirts of the top 200 at 208.

With use of the longer putter becoming a more popular sight on golf courses around the globe, South Africa’s Shaun Norrisbecame the latest to benefit from its use shooting a final round 65 to win by a solitary shot at the Sunshine Tour’s Nashua Masters. It is Morris’ second win on the circuit, after a 2008 African Open victory, and he has a lot to thank his new putter for having finished third the first week he put it in the bag, and now a win. The victory will no doubt see him keep the new flat stick in the bag a little longer, and who would blame him after a jump of some 519 places up the World Ranking to 428.

California native Byron Smith put the disappointment of failing at the first stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School the week before behind him in emphatic style shooting a final round 66 at the Desert Dunes Classic to win by two shots in his home town of Palm Springs. The title had looked like going the way of his nearest rival Kent Eger after he holed in one at the third and chipped in twice during the final round, but Smith held on thanks to as chip in of his own at the second and three birdies in a row round the turn to edge out his playing partner by a couple. The win is Smith’s fourth on the Canadian Tour and it propels him 624 places up the ranking and into 758th spot.

Paraguay’s Fabrizio Zanotti completed a successful week for home heroes on the World Ranking as he dominated proceedings at the Carlos Franco Invitational to win by six shots from his nearest competitor, Argentinian Tour de las Americas rookie, Leandro Marelli. The victorious Zanotti was the man to beat all week after an opening 67, and with two more rounds in the 60s he could afford a final round of 71 and still win by plenty. He had started the year at 200 in the ranking, and having fallen a little in 2011, this win sees him climb nearer to that mark at 243.